Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Some people have a weird idea of "rights." In many cities - mine at least - the city puts up signs everywhere skeeping about loud car radios, which aren't audible for more than 5 seconds at a time. But nobody bats an eye against construction noise that lasts all day and all night 7 days a week.

We had a problem with a pile driver a couple years ago making noise literally around the clock during a condo construction project. For those not familiar with pile drivers, they work by setting off a small explosion once every second. This din was audible over a radius of about 2 miles.

There was no reason even to be using a pile driver. It was just gratuitous noise. And it lasted almost 24 hours a day. If they needed a pile driver to build the condos, then maybe that's nature's way of saying what's intended and what isn't. Never before or since have I heard that much noise from any construction project.

The city refused to do anything about this public nuisance. This was a clear case of selective enforcement of the noise ordinance. Whoever thought it was a good idea to run a pile driver constantly in the middle of a city is about as considerate as the morons at NKU who allowed construction crews to run buzzsaws in the library during peak hours.

In Boulder, Colorado, however, they're about to crack down. Working-class residents are tired of construction of new homes for the rich creating noise almost around the clock, trails of mud from construction trucks mucking up their streets, debris being scattered about the city, trucks taking up parking space, and other annoyances. One person said the noise "has pushed so many people in the neighborhood over the brink" and that "you're woken up Saturday morning by construction noise, and on Sunday morning." So the city is planning to limit construction work on new residences to 10 hours a day on weekdays. The new ordinance wouldn't affect normal yard work or do-it-yourself home improvements. But it would apply to the construction of new homes.

Oh, man, that'll just destroy the entire construction industry! Actually it won't. Some people claim it will, but it won't. But that hasn't stopped the Freepers who don't even live in Boulder from crying about how the proposed limits violate their "rights" and calling supporters of the plan "nazis."

Gee, Freepers, what's really behind your desire to create nuisances that keep everyone awake all night? Is it your insistence on destroying the landscape with more development, or is it your hatred of working-class people?

My Starving Writer Fund

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